HERO OF LABRADOR

Greymouth Evening Star, 19 April 1938, Page 8

HERO OF LABRADOR

ENFORCED RETIREMENT. VANCOUVER, March 16. Sir Wilfred Grenfell, who is 73yeasr old, has been warned by hismedical advisers, that he. . must stay 1 away from the fjozeij reaches of Labrador. His heart is affected, and he must spend the rest of his days “outside.” But he. says he will carry oh his work by correspondence and by writing. He has asked the board of directors of the Grenfell Association to carry on his life’s. work “into fields of greater usefulness and service.” "As a, young English doctor, he sacrificed prospects of practice at home to make his first expedition to Labrador in 1892.'' First medical man ip, that "country, he established a sniall hospital, the first Jn a chain of five, miles Between them he iset' up nursing stations’." "Then fol-

lowed orphanages, schools,,"an industrial department, hospital apd supply ships, agricultural stations, clothing distribution centres, a Seamen’s In-

stitute, and even a co-operative lumber, mill.' To the settlers, Indians an,d Eskimos, he "became known” as “The Labrador Doctor.” His writings and the account of his labours won international support for the Grenfell move* ment-.

On many occasions, Sir Wilfred risked his life on errands of mercy. On Easter Sunday, 1908, he was driving a dog-team, in response to a sick call, 60 miles across the frozen waste. He broke through bad ice while crossing an inlet, and found himself adrift on an ice floe, with his eight dogs, having managed hurriedly to cut. them loose from the sledge. Three times he was plunged into the water, finally taking refuge on a floe, no bigger than his operating theatre. He drifted twenty miles through the night, and had to kill three dogs, to use their skins for cover. ’ When all hope appeared gone, he was rescued by Indian runners.